


Royals

by imagineagreatadventure



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Tumblr Prompt, sort of a princess diaries au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3684321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagineagreatadventure/pseuds/imagineagreatadventure
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was prompted with: “i grew up not knowing i was royal and now i guess i’m heir to a throne and you’re the guy who’s supposed to be teaching me how to be royal bc i suck at it and oops we made out” au Jaime/Brienne</p><p>and it grew into a three part fic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AryaNoName](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=AryaNoName).



Jaime groaned as he glanced over the schedule his father, or rather his father’s assistant, left for him. It lay on the mahogany desk right next to the disgustingly healthy breakfast that was made up of oatmeal, fruits, and water. Jaime sneered at it and thought about dunking the schedule in his oatmeal.

“I’m tutoring that brat they found?” he mumbled to himself, after taking a bite of the apple. 

Jaime wasn’t royal, but he was nobility. But he was the sort of nobility who often found himself on the wrong side of tabloids and the law… as well as the wrong side of his own sister. 

He sighed and looked over the summons that was left next to the schedule, the letters dancing in curls and swirls. The summons weren’t clear on what he was supposed to be teaching but Jaime figured that if he didn’t know it, they wouldn’t have asked him, although he still wondered why they asked him at all.

Jaime left his father’s manor quickly after he ate, showered, and dressed, as he was supposed to be at the palace in an hour, and that really meant a half-hour. His driver was slow and Jaime resisted swearing at him and instead stared at the window, watching the country turn into the city. 

He arrived late, despite instructing the driver on several shortcuts (which the driver promptly ignored) and he stumbled into the room keeping an eye out for the new princess. A man was at the piano, tall, broad, blonde, and with an ugly mug for a face, and Jaime wondered if he was the princess’ bodyguard.

But then the man got up once he saw Jaime and Jaime quickly realized that the man was a woman.

Several insults were on the tip of his tongue but he kept them inside and instead smiled at his princess.

She didn’t smile back, instead she looked rather nervous. She was wearing khaki trousers and a t-shirt from a rock concert, she was quite a mess.

“Princess Brienne, is it not?” Jaime asked after the silence begged for some noise. She nodded shyly back.

“You’re Ser Jaime?” the princess asked, her voice more feminine than he imagined. Jaime nodded, charming her with a smile, “That’s me.”

She blushed and Jaime was amused. Amused enough to allow more of his personality out, “Do you have any idea what I’m supposed to teach you?”

Princess Brienne frowned, “You don’t know?”

“No one told me anything until this morning,” Jaime revealed, “And I just do what I’m told.”

Her grown grew deeper, “That’s a terrible way to look at things.”

He laughed, “You’re at the top of the food chain, of course it’s a terrible way to look at things to you.”

Things did not get better from there.

It took a few days for Jaime to figure out what he was actually supposed to teach the girl, but in the meanwhile he taught her about politics and how life really worked, and how people like his father would eat her alive if she was still so naive. She barked back replies and turned crimson when he began to tease her and soon didn’t even like being called princess, because Jaime had turned it into a light insult. 

By the time someone told him he was supposed to be teaching her about all the lords and ladies in the kingdom, they had learned to hate each other.

“This is Hyle Hunt, he’s a piece of shit who doesn’t do anything but loaf about his parent’s manse.”

Brienne huffed, “That’s very rude.”

Jaime rolled his eyes, “It’s the truth, now this asshole -”

“Would you stop calling them assholes?”

“Whatever you say…. princess,” he winked and she turned red. Jaime still couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment. 

“Just give me the ages and their names and their accomplishments,” she pleaded. 

“Fine, this asshole’s name is Lancel Lannister, he’s my cousin. He’s about three years younger than you. His main accomplishments are in the military but ever since he was discharged due to an injury he’s become obsessed with the Seven.”

She glanced over at him, “Why is he an asshole then?”

Jaime wasn’t planning on revealing his life story so he shrugged, “Because that’s what every Lannister is.”

After a few days of staring at pictures and memorizing random facts, Brienne had started to go stir-crazy. 

“I can’t take this anymore. I don’t care who these people are. The only one I remember is Ronnet Connington and that’s because he -” she stopped suddenly and Jaime became very interested in what she was saying. Before he had been picking at his nails but now….

“What did he do?”

She shuffled the pictures, “Nothing important.”

Jaime recalled Ronnet and remembered the guy being an absolute ass the last time they met, “Wasn’t he one of the men that your Father sent to pick you up from your life as a commoner?”

Brienne nodded, although she didn’t look like she wanted to tell the truth.

“What did he do?” Jaime repeated, getting closer to Brienne. If he stared into her pretty blue eyes, he knew he’d get her to tell the truth. It was a tactic he had been testing on her… not at all because he liked her eyes… how wide and innocent they were…

“He,” she hesitated and tried to look away, but Jaime grabbed her chin lightly and turned her back towards him. Brienne swallowed, “He said that he thought they were picking up a princess not a cow. And then he threw the rose that my Father sent at my feet. The others didn’t do anything. I almost… I almost didn’t come here because of him.”

Jaime thought about killing Red Ronnet. It wouldn’t cost too much to hire someone and he was actually pretty good at killing, it’s how he became a knight in this day and age. 

“Brienne,” he said, wanting to comfort her but she tore away from his grasp.

“It’s fine,” she said stubbornly, “Let’s get back to work.” She stared at the pictures and Jaime realized she was trying not to cry.

He did the only thing he could think of and kissed her. 

She slapped him, “What are you doing?” she asked horrified. Her blue eyes were hurt and scared and Jaime cursed himself.

“I just… I don’t know,” he said lamely, feeling more like a lamb than a lion.

Brienne left without saying a word, only glancing back once in confusion. Jaime stared at her broad back and wondered when he began to like the one girl that was out of his league.


	2. The Middle

The royal ball was approaching and Brienne was near tears about it. She hated dancing, she hated gowns, she hated it all. She felt like such a fool.

Especially when she sat across from Jaime.

She tried to talk to her Father about canceling her lessons with Jaime, but he didn’t even attend to her, instead his head steward heard her complaint and promptly ignored it.

Brienne stared at Jaime’s blonde head and huffed. He kissed her a week ago and since then hadn’t teased her once. He sometimes would stare at her like she was a puzzle but then would throw her a disarming smile when she caught him at it.

So she stared at names and faces and ages and stupid facts as Jaime’s voice rumbled over her - thinking of the stupid ball.

“I don’t want to do this,” she said suddenly, interrupting Jaime’s speech on why the Starks were a pain in the ass.

His gaze struck her, “Do what?”

“Go to the ball, be a princess, have a marriage arranged for me. I just want to go back to grad school and get my degree. I want to fence again, I want to jog without a bodyguard behind me.”

“You have an arranged marriage?” he asked. Why was that the thing that bothered him, Brienne fumed.

“Not yet, but apparently I cannot be an heir as a girl without a husband,” Brienne said, “which is completely ridiculous, insensible-”

“Horseshit,” Jaime supplied with a grin.

“Yeah, that.” Brienne smiled back at him but quickly stopped, in case he thought they were bonding.

“Princess,” he said and she scowled. Jaime laughed, “Brienne, then, do you at least have a say in this husband?”

She shrugged. The truth was she stopped paying attention as soon as the council uttered the words arranged marriage. All she could envision was a steel cage.

No one would want to marry her even if it meant a kingdom, she knew. Perhaps an arranged marriage would be the only way she could have children.

“You’re too young for all this,” Jaime said after a moment, frowning, “This mantle is too heavy.”

“I can handle it.”

“Let me ask you this, you said you don’t want to be princess… is that true?”

Brienne blinked. “I don’t know,” she confessed, “I think… I think I need to be the princess. I need to show the world that I’m good at something, that I’m worthwhile… that -” She stumbled and Jaime took over.

“You are good at a great many things, you know,” Jaime told her, “I asked after you. You were the top of your class at both your prep school and at your uni, both the best schools in the country, and you can run almost as fast as Olympic athletes. You may not be a beauty-” Brienne scowled but he ignored her, “but you’re smart, sweet, and good. I think we need someone like you in our politics.”

“Really?” she found herself asking.

Jaime smiled, “Really.”

She almost wanted him to kiss her again but instead she looked back down at the pictures, embarrassed by his praise.

Several weeks later that were filled with many frustrating sessions with Jaime Lannister, Brienne was stuffed in an ugly pink ballgown that did nothing to flatter her figure, despite Brienne being sewn into it.

“I wanted it to be blue,” she muttered.

“Your coronation dress is blue, we can’t have all your dresses be the same color, now can we?” the dressmaker sniffed. Brienne did not like her but did nothing but frown. The sooner the evening was over the better.

“There,” the dressmaker said, “you’re completely fitted. Shall I send in your hair stylist?”

“Fine,” Brienne said, sighing. The dressmaker left but as soon as she left, Jaime waltzed in.

He stopped, unable to stop staring at her, “What are you wearing?” he demanded.

“This,” she sighed, not wanting to deal with his antics.

“Was that woman your dressmaker?”

She nodded miserably and he swore, “That’s one of my sister’s, she’s trying to embarrass you.”

Brienne had never met his sister and Jaime never spoke of her, but Brienne had heard things, and saw the picture in one of the lessons. Jaime had balled up her picture and thrown it over his shoulder without saying a word.

“Cersei?” she asked.

“Yes, her,” he said then swore again.

“Stop that,” she commanded.

Jaime looked at her oddly before smiling, “I knew you had it in you to be a commander.”

“Stop it, ser,” she resorted to using his title, “and tell me why your sister would do this to me.”

“She doesn’t want you to be the Princess or the Queen. I suspect she was hoping to intrigue your father into marriage, your father is a well-known womanizer, although he always treats them well. He just never marries them. I suppose Cersei was hoping to marry him and provide trueborn heirs. That’d be easier, of course, if you were thrown out of the line.”

Brienne’s head hurt, “How can someone be like that?”

Jaime came closer to her and grabbed her arm, “That’s not the worst of it I’m afraid… my father is just as bad.”

He was too close but she couldn’t move away in this stupid dress, “My father wanted me as one of your tutors so you’d fall hopelessly in love with me, I suppose he was betting on my looks rather than my personality. He should have known that you wouldn’t have been shallow.”

His hand made her arm feel like it was on fire, “Why would he do that?” she asked, trying not to look at Jaime, or else he would know the truth.

“Because he wanted to take your chances with the other men tonight - he did not see you as a woman who would sacrifice love for duty. And, of course, he wants his daughter to be Queen. So spite my family, and change into another dress, marry one of those idiots out there who will never understand how good you really are.”

“I don’t want to marry anyone,” she protested angrily, tearing away from Jaime and almost falling on the floor. She hated the dress with a passion she thought was reserved for the bullies she endured growing up, “and I shouldn’t need to!”

Jaime’s eyes sparkled and he grinned at her, “Then tell them that.”


	3. The End

The Princess had succeeded.

Trembling in that awful pink dress, Brienne had stood up in front of the crowd of diplomats, politicians, journalists, and world leaders, and informed them, with a quiet and stern voice that seemed more like a mother's than a daughter's, that she was not going to be marrying anyone today. But she also felt that they all needed to look around and realize what year it was - that she didn't need a man to run this country, that she knew this country.

Jaime had never been so proud of a person in his life. Even Tyrion, who was beside him as all this was happening, remarked on his genuine grin.

"A Princess needs her Prince," someone called out from the audience but Brienne dealt with him quickly, listing names and histories of previous Queens and how well they succeeded before marrying.

"What about heirs?" another yelled, the voice suspiciously sounding like Jaime's father. Tyrion snickered as Brienne turned a shade of pink and Jaime almost smacked the top of his head.

"I will have them. In my own time. My father did not reveal that I was his heir until a year ago, not even to me. Perhaps you could show the same faith in me that you did in him."

Jaime watched the King as she said that and he could swear that he saw a twinkle in the old man's eyes, although Jaime was too far away to truly tell.

Brienne straightened her back, "Now, if you would all like to continue dancing that is fine, but I expect that in the morning, we shall have a council meeting and we will strike this law from the books as it is terribly out-of-date."

There were as many cheers as there were grumblings and Jaime feared the girl had a long, hard journey ahead of her. Still, she smiled so brightly as she heard the cheers that Jaime realized she had never been cheered for at all - that even those few cheers had made her happy. She knew she was doing the right thing, she had no fear once she realized that.

A part of him felt as if he should go up to her and warn her of the grumblings and the nay-sayers, his father chief among them, but Brienne disappeared as soon as the music began playing again and Jaime felt lost.

"Why are you looking so down?" his brother asked. "If you look any sadder, I feel as though I'll have to buy you a puppy. But wait we have Cersei for that," Tyrion laughed at his own humor.

Jaime didn't. Tyrion frowned but then feigned a smirk, "Don't you get it? Cersei's a bitch?"

Jaime feigned a smile then, but still couldn't muster a false laugh. Tyrion sighed at him.

"You're no fun anymore," Tyrion informed Jaime, "Ever since your little tutoring job began. And I can't believe that I had to be the one to tell you of Father's machinations, usually you're able to figure that nonsense out yourself. But honestly your head has been somewhere else ever since you met the girl."

"Her name's Brienne," Jaime corrected automatically, looking at his brother, "Why did you tell me of Father's scheme?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't take part in it," Tyrion replied, "Don't forget, brother, I'm a Lannister too and I have my own schemes."

"And what are these schemes, little brother," Jaime wondered out loud.

Tyrion grinned."You'll figure it out later."

After that puzzling conversation, he soon noticed Cersei trying to make her way towards him, her eyes livid, and he darted past the crowd, in their finery, looking for any means of escape. Within a few minutes, he was able to reach the private quarters of the Princess. The guards eyed him warily, but he supposed that they found him no threat, as they allowed him to knock on the princess' door.

"Come in," was Brienne's soft reply and Jaime entered her parlor room.

She was dressed in a overly large t-shirt and boxers, lounging on her divan sofa. Jaime had never been more attracted to a woman in his life. Not even Cersei, with all her golden hair and beautiful curves, had bewitched him so dearly.

"Jaime?" Brienne asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to tell my future Queen, that she has my support," he said, bending on one knee to her. Jaime felt almost as if he was a man proposing to the woman he loved.

Brienne licked her lips and stood up as if getting ready to back away from him. Overly plump and large her lips were but Jaime longed to kiss them again, "Stand up, you're being ridiculous." She ordered him with a strong voice that made him think of his former days in the military.

He smiled, "I'm very proud of you."

"You sound like an old man," she complained, "You're not that much older than me."

"Over a decade," he corrected her, remembering the silver in his hair, "But that doesn't matter much when it comes to love, does it?"

Her face was stony, "You don't love me. You're here at your father's orders."

Jaime actually laughed then, "My father wouldn't want me to play second-fiddle to a woman. He wouldn't arrange this. Although I'm sure he'd take this over nothing, he would not be pleased to hear about this. He would consider this a last resort measure."

"Well, I don't want to marry you," she stated, her face flaming, "I'll marry in my own time."

He got off his knee then and then started walking towards Brienne, feeling very much like a lion approaching its prey. "Oh," he said, his words soft and dangerous. Brienne visibly shuddered at them and Jaime was pleased by her reaction, "Who said anything about marriage?"

"Jaime-" she warned, picking up a pillow.

"Princess," he purred, almost within arm's length. He felt so very close to being able to kiss her again until she threw the pillow at his head.

He laughed as she threw another, "What are you doing?" He picked up one of the ones she threw at him and used it as a shield as she grabbed another from her large divan sofa.

"Why are you like this?" she demanded, instead of answering his question, throwing another pillow at his knee. Jaime dodged it and picked it up and threw it at her head.

It smacked her right in the nose, "Ow, you jerk."

"You started it," Jaime pointed out.

A guard opened the door, "Is everything all right, Princess?" he asked, staring at Jaime and Brienne with wide-eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine," Brienne said, her cheeks red and her blonde hair standing up at the top of her head.

The guard looked between them again and Jaime had to keep a few quips in check, before he closed the door. Brienne thwacked him with another pillow as soon as he did though, "Look what you did!"

"I didn't do anything," Jaime said, grasping his pillow shield in case she threw another one.

She lowered her voice, as if she was afraid that the guards were going to hear her, "You were going to try and kiss me again."

"I wasn't going to try, I was going to succeed at it," he said. "Don't you want to be kissed by me?" He was fairly certain she did, he had caught her looking at him a lot since the first kiss, and even before then. But perhaps he was wrong.

Wouldn't have been the first time.

The question seemed to flummox her, "I don't know," Brienne finally answered, looking desperately around the room, everywhere but at Jaime, "Not if it's not the right reasons!"

"And what would the right reasons be?" he asked, standing still.

"That you liked me? That you weren't trying to win a stupid bet? That you weren't trying to get a kingdom out of it?" she said, looking sad and so strong, "That this wasn't a game to you."

Jaime looked her over and realized some sad truth about Brienne's past dating experiences. He would have to be careful, "Brienne," he said quietly, "I don't want to hurt you. In fact, while I'm not sure it is love, I'm sorry that I was teasing before, but I do in fact like you very, very much. And I really do want to kiss you and find out where every single one of those freckles are and if you turn red all over."

Brienne threw another pillow at him, hitting him directly in the groin, "You're not good at this," she stated after he recuperated from being hit in the balls. She was faster than the shield, he realized.

"I just like you! I don't have a bet, I certainly don't want to run a kingdom, I'd screw it up real fast, all I want is to kiss you," he said, groaning at exactly every other word. Shit she had an arm.

Brienne came over to him then and hesitantly helped him onto her sofa, "You really should learn to be less of a jerk," she said, "But I'm sorry I hit you with so many pillows."

"You can hit me with however many pillows you want, Princess," Jaime said, after the pain finally subsided. He looked into her bright blue eyes, who studied him back, "As long as you let me kiss you."

Brienne looked unsure and almost frightened but still she pressed her lips to his, and he kissed her as softly as he could, knowing full well that she could knock his lights out with a mere pillow if she pleased, until suddenly she bit his bottom lip and then he bit hers, and then soon tongues were involved and then he could hear the clock tower outside Brienne's window strike midnight and Jaime realized that they had been making out for two hours like damned teenagers.

Brienne was pink, not from embarrassment or anger but with desire, and he imagined he looked much the same. Her eyes were brighter and yet so very dark when he looked into them, causing him to stop caring about the time it was because he had to kiss the princess again and again and again.

After all, she was a novice at making out, and he was her tutor. It was up to him to teach her the ways of the kiss.

As many times as she wanted him to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't edit this at all, lol, so I'm sorry if there are lots of mistakes. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this fluffy, odd AU story.


End file.
